Pressed-steel ball crank-handle



H. G; CARLSON.

PRESSED STEEL BALL CRANK HANDLE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 1919.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SPRINKLER COMPANY OF MASSACHUSETTS,

CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A

PRESSED-STEEL BALL CRANK-HANDLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 22, 1919. Serial No. 339,989.

'1 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HJALMAR G. CARLsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at l'Vorcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Pressed-Steel Ball Crank-Handle, of which the following is a specification.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a ball crank machine handle formed of pressed steel but having the appearance of the ordinary solid metal handle and having most of its properties; and also to provide means whereby the usual keying of the crank handle to the shaft on which it is mounted will be dispensed with, and it can be mounted on a non-circular shank on said shaft without any key, thus saving materially in expense; also to provide a construction in which the clamping of the handle on the shaft will be of such a nature that there will be less danger of its working loose; and in general to provide a well balanced light crank handle with a reduction Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear herein.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same;

Fig. 8 i a longitudinal vertical sectional view; and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central sectional viewtaken at right angles thereto on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

In order to provide a light hollow crank handle which will be comparatively inexpensive to make, I make it in two identical halves. Thus in describing either half it will be understood that I refer to both of them.

Each half of the handle is formed of sheet steel pressed out in dies in ways that are understood in this art so as to provide a construction in which there is a hemispherical ball 10 at one end for receiving the handle 11 and a larger ball 12 at the other end for balancing the handle, and these two balls are connected by a straight-arm 13. When these two halves are connected together their exterior surfaces are circular, and the joint between them is practically concealed. The parts 10, 12 and 13 are intended to have exactly the same shape, size and appearance as the correspondmg solid parts of the usual crank handle, but instead of providing a cylindrical perforation through the arm 18 and keying it to a cylindrical shank on the shaft to which the handle is to be applied, I avoid the expense involved in providing the key slot and key. This I accomplish by providing a raised lec ge 14L circular in outline when looked at in plan, perforating it at the center, and bending down the inner walls 15 thereof, so that they project inwardly. This also has the general appearance of the hub which crank handles usually have, but the perforation 16 at the center is made non-circular. I have shown it in this case as square. This then is bounded by the walls 15 which are integral with the ledge 14 and constitute when the two parts are assembled a non-circular socket through the center of the handle. \Vith this construction T can materially simplify the man-. ufacture and assembling of the device for I provide the shaft 17 with a hank 18 of the same noncircular shape as the socket 16.

The parts being assembled and the nut screwed down, the handle and shaft are fixed with respect to each other without the use of a key. Heretofore the shank of the shaft has always been made circular, and usually cylindrical, simply because the most inexpensive way of making a socket in the crank handle was to bore through it a hole of circular cross section. To make one of any other shape would have involved unnecessary expense, but by making the handle of sheet metal I would avoid this difiiculty as that makes it just as easy to form the socket 16 square in cross section as to make it circular. The shaping of the shank 18 is not made any more expensive by this means to say the least.

Another feature about this socket 16 is that the sheet metal, although rigid enough for all practical purposes when the parts are assembled, is capable of yielding very slightly at the center where the walls 15 arelocated. These walls are left spaced at a distance from each other so that when the nut is screwed up on the shaft 17 the two raised ledges 14 will abut one against the nut and the other against the shoulder on the shaft at the bottom of the shank 18, and, with the slight resiliency of the metal to Patented Apr. 12, 1921. I

operate against, the nut is held in position firmly and securely under spring pressure.

The two halves of the body of the crank handle are held together at one end by a peripheral enlargement 19 on the handle 11 and the spreading of its extreme end at 20 as indicated in Fig. 3, and at the other end by a rivet 21 if that is desired. I find in practice that these two fastening devices,

both of which practically constitute rivets, are suliicient to hold the two parts together efiectively, but I also prefer to spot-weld or V braze the abutting edges together at two opposite ends 22 and 23 preferably throughout a small area. They can be united throughout these abutting surfaces if desired.

The handle 11 is shown as of hollow construction, and that is a desirable feature in connection with this invention, because then it can be balanced very easily by the hollow ball 12 and rivet 21 and the whole crank handle made light and of substantially uniform character from end to end.

Although I have illustrated and described only a single form-of the invention, I am aware of the fact that modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. There- ,fore I do not wish to be limited to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but what I do claim is 1. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle comprising two 1dent1cal members formed of pressed steel, each having a hemispherical ball at both ends, and their edges integrally uniting the two halves at their 50.

abutting surfaces at each end of the crank handle.

8. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle consisting of two members formed of pressed steel, each having a hemispherical ball at the end, and their edges abutting against each other, a hollow drawn sheet steel handle member having a peripheral enlargement engaging the outer surface of the ball of one of said halves and having a hollow shank extending through the ball and spread outwardly at its end to rivet it to the other half.

a. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle consisting of two identical members formed of pressed steel, each having a hemispherical ball at both ends, a straight arm connecting said balls and integral with them and provided with a circular hub at the center, said hub having a non-circular pressed sheet steel socket extending therethrough for the reception of a non-circular shank on supporting shaft.

5. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle comprising two pressed steel halves secured together, the walls at the center being turned in to provide a. non-circular perforation in each half, said perforations being in alinement.

6. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle consisting of two hollow pressed steel halves secured together and provided with a non-circular socketrformed by turning in the walls at the center to provide a non-circular perforation in each half, said perforations being in axial alinement, and said walls extending only partway to the center of the handle to furnish a slight resiliency for assisting in holding a fastening nut in position.

7. As an article of manufacture, a crank handle formed of two pressed steel members secured together and provided with a central hub, said hub having opposite raised circumferential ledges and being centrally perforated, the walls of metal at the edges of the perforation being turned inwardly to constitute the walls of a socket for receiving the shank of a supporting shaft.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

HJALMAR Gr. CARLSON. 

